


An Early Gift

by Skyeec2



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Cloud's Birthday '17, F/M, Humour, le shrug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-16
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-12-16 03:11:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11820030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyeec2/pseuds/Skyeec2
Summary: Written for Cloud's Birthday '17.





	An Early Gift

Cloud was stretched out along his couch, absently watching a few things he had recorded earlier in the week. Today was one of his days off and he was jumping between a book he was slowing working his way through and the new episodes that he had missed over the past few days, his normal plans for when he didn’t have anything else planned for the day.

It had been a while since the last time he had spent his day like this, things had simply been too busy since the Deep Ground incident and the subsequent issues with the ex-Tsviets. He and Vincent had been working almost non-stop to get them used to life out of Deep Ground, it had been slow going at first but they were all smart enough to grasp what they’d been trying to tell them.

Cloud had his PHS close by in case Reeve needed to contact him for an emergency, but it’d been silent since he’d woken a few hours before and he was confident that it would remain as such for the rest of the day. Both Nero and Weiss were away with Vincent so it should have only been Rosso and Shelke in Edge today and while Rosso could be a handful to deal with he doubted she’d do anything that he would need to go out and handle himself.

He turned his attention back to the book in his hand once the current episode had finished, slowly making his way through the next chapter of the cyber-punk romance that Shera had recommended to him the last time he saw her. Well, she hadn’t quite recommended it, she had forced the book on him when he had seen her during a delivery to Rocket Town. Cid had laughed and refused to answer him when he questioned the pilot about why she had given him the book so Cloud had decided to accept the gift without further question.

It was a nice book; the characters were fun and the setting was interesting and the plot was simple enough for him to follow without having to take himself out of the story. He was enjoying it more than he had thought he would, considering he didn’t usually enjoy this genre.

He was halfway through the chapter and the two protagonists had just been separated from each other when a heavy knock drew his from the pages. He stared at the door from his place on the couch, confused as to who could be at his door. The sound came again, this time louder and more insistent.

Cloud lifted himself from where he was lounging after he placed a spare piece of paper between the pages of his book and moved to open his door. He blinked for a moment once the door was open, staring in shock at the scene before him.

He lived on the outskirts of Edge, preferring the relative quiet of the outskirts to the sound and energy of the inner-city areas, so he didn’t have many neighbours and as such didn’t have to try to explain the giant dead Behemoth in front of his house to anyone. He stared at the corpse, unable to tear his eyes away from it until the presence standing in front of him demanded his attention.

“I have brought you an offering.”

He slowly dragged his eyes away from the corpse at the proud, confident voice. “Hey, Rosso,” he muttered when his gaze landed on her, distantly noticing how she was practically brimming with self-satisfaction. “Do you know why there’s a Behemoth corpse in front of my door?”

She blinked at him, confusion in her tone as she repeated herself. “It is an offering. I am gifting it to you.” She cocked her head at him, brow furrowing over her eyes before she quickly glanced between him and the corpse behind her. “Does it not please you?”

Cloud groaned softly, reaching up to run his hand through his hair in an exasperated gesture. Of course he couldn’t have a nice quiet day off.

“It does not please you,” Rosso stated, taking his sigh as an answer. Anger and frustration twisted her features as she turned away from him, fixing a glare to the corpse behind her. “My apologies for the disgraceful offering. I will remove it from your sight.”

“Wait a minute,” he told her, stopping her before she could walk away from him. “First tell me why you brought it here in the first place, I have no idea what you mean by ‘offering’.” His confusion over what she meant would probably anger her but he really had no clue what she was talking about, a problem he often encountered when interacting with Rosso. The ex-General seemed to have a completely different way of thinking than Cloud’s own, something he attributed to her being raised in Deep Ground, and often said things that meant something to her but meant absolutely nothing to Cloud and vice versa.

“This was supposed to be an impressive gift,” Rosso explained, crossing her arms over her chest with a flourish. “A way to display abilities as a provider and protector, garner favour.” Cloud blinked at her, thinking he was starting to grasp what she was saying but unable to reconcile her words with what he knew of her. “But my gift has failed to please you and I will need to reconsider my next attempt.”

“So,” Cloud said, starting at the woman in front of him as he simplified what she had just told him. “You brought me a Behemoth corpse, because you thought I’d like it.”

“I believed it would impress you, yes.”

“Well,” he answered, turning back to consider the corpse in his yard once again. It certainly was a large creature, Rosso must have had a great time taking that thing down on her own. “It’s certainly impressive.”

“… It is?” Her question was flat, asked as she stared at him intently. She leaned forward into his space, pressing into his space as she waited for him to respond.

“It’s a Behemoth,” he told her, rolling his eyes at her unimpressed look. “That you took down on your own. Of course, that’s impressive.” He ran his gaze over the corpse once again, eyes landing on the gaping wound of the monster’s throat. “I could eat that thing for weeks.”

“You are pleased with it then?” Rosso asked, watching him hopefully. “I have gifted you a pleasing offering?”

“It’s a great offering,” he informed her, watching as the self-satisfied smile appeared on her face once again. “I just don’t know why you decided to give it to me.”

“I wished to garner your favour,” she told him, repeating her earlier words. “I was told that was what you did when the one you are trying to court celebrated their birthing day.”

Cloud blinked at her, ignoring the ‘trying to court’ part of her words for the moment to focus on the other part of her answer. “My ‘birthing day’? You mean my birthday, right?” He asked, getting a nod in reply. “That’s not until next week.”

She froze, staring up at him with a blank expression. “It’s what?” She asked, tone empty as she addressed him.

“It’s next week,” he answered, watching her closely.

There was a moment of silence between them as they both stood in his doorway, Cloud watching Rosso in concern as the ex-Tsviet stood quietly in front of him.

“Please excuse me,” she said suddenly, stepping back from him and turning sharply on her heel. “I must dispose of Shelke.”

He shot forward before she could get to far away, stopping her with a light grip on her shoulder. “Don’t blame her,” he said, pulling her back to look at him. “She probably got the date from my Shinra personal file.” Everyone seemed to be using the date from his file if the cake he had found in his fridge upon waking this morning was anything to go by.

“Your file is incorrect?” She asked, peering at him. “Shelke did not steer me wrong on purpose.”

“She’s smart enough to know that would be a bad idea,” he informed her, releasing his hold on her. “Besides you can’t leave until you help me carve this thing up.” His last words were accompanied by a gesture towards the corpse, he definitely needed help to properly clean it of everything he could get from it.

“So you still accept my offering?” Rosso questioned, pressing forward into his space suddenly and pulling him down to her level. “Even if it’s early?”

He nodded, gaining a bright smile from Rosso. She shot forward to rub her cheek against Cloud’s before pulling back and turning to the corpse, leaving Cloud to stare after her in silence. He followed her after a moment, taking a mental note to ask her what she meant by ‘court’ once they were finished with the corpse.


End file.
